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Source: The Interplay Of IoT And Critical Infrastructure Security (forbes.com)

Published July 14, 2024

When it comes to technology, what seemed to be science fiction several decades ago can now be a mundane thing everyone takes for granted. Could we have imagined in the early 2000s that entire economic sectors would operate in near-autonomous ways under a watchful eye of monitoring sensors, cameras, and a myriad of other connected devices collectively dubbed the Internet of Things (IoT)?

Once a prerogative of incorrigible enthusiasts and dreamers, this hi-tech reality is already here. In areas where human input used to be key, the onus has largely shifted towards internet-enabled devices that provide real-time data collection, remote monitoring, and automation. The number of these objects is predicted to exceed 29 billion by 2030 globally, twice the stats for 2020.

Out of all the domains that IoT has revolutionized, critical infrastructure stands apart as a particularly tangible intersection of the digital and physical worlds. Today, it enhances operational efficiency, reduces costs, and steps up service reliability of electrical grids, municipal utilities, transportation systems, manufacturing entities, military facilities, airports, and more.

This technological leap, predictably enough, comes with its challenges. First, deploying seamless IoT networks over long distances can require hefty engineering, construction, and investment to upgrade the existing wiring infrastructure or even build it from the ground up. Second, operating such networks is a tightrope to walk in terms of security, given the high-stakes assets at the heart of them.

The Cybersecurity Achilles Heel

The vast number of interconnected devices in an IoT-driven infrastructure creates a massive attack surface. These objects often have limited processing power and may miss out on robust security features, which potentially makes them easy targets. Here’s a closer look at the specific concerns that shape up the unique threat model of an ecosystem like that:

• Unauthorized access: Many IoT devices have notoriously weak authentication protocols and are shipped with easy-to-guess default passwords that network administrators neglect to change. This leaves them vulnerable to brute-force attacks or credential stuffing.
• Data breaches: Without strong encryption in place, sensitive data transmitted between devices and control centers can be intercepted and mishandled.
• Denial of Service (DoS): IoT networks can be swamped by malformed queries whose number exceeds the server’s processing capacity. This can result in significant downtime and operational issues that end up disrupting critical services.
• Software vulnerabilities: Outdated firmware and software on these devices can harbor unpatched security gaps, creating entry points for cyberattacks.

The catch-all thing to understand is that the very nature of interconnectedness creates vulnerabilities. Perpetrators targeting a single device could gain access to a wider network, potentially causing widespread disruptions.

IoT Security Done Right

As cyber threats evolve, overconfidence in defenses at the network perimeter can be a losing strategy. Even with top-notch proactive security measures in place, there’s always a chance of well-motivated adversaries breaking in. It’s best to prevent them from weaponizing the data they might intercept, in the first place. Call it a plan B, if you will, but it eventually pays off in today’s nuanced cyberspace.

A good example of how this works is the logic leveraged by Actelis Networks, a global provider of cyber-hardened, quick-deployment networking solutions for utility, transportation, military, telecom, as well as federal, state, and local government IoT applications. What drew my attention is that their security philosophy combines three layers of protection: end-to-end data encryption with MACsec 256-bit cryptographic standard, data fragmentation, and scrambling.

This means that to cause damage, a malicious actor would need to amass information from all nodes on the network in order to de-scramble it, put the fragments together in the correct order, and decrypt the resulting data with a unique key to make it meaningful. Anyone even remotely familiar with cryptography knows that this mission is close to impossible.

With the well-thought-out security approach (dubbed the Triple Shield) and a breakthrough hybrid-fiber network deployment principle, Actelis is the only company of its kind to be included on the U.S. Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) approved products list (APL). This achievement, combined with NIST certification for FIPS 140-2 cryptographic standard, has predictably paved the provider’s way towards new niches and projects.

In early June, the company received orders to modernize three U.S. military bases with its secure networking technology. These developments came amid escalating geopolitical tensions manifesting themselves through increased cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. The trend of growing investment in military cybersecurity mirrors broader federal efforts in addressing such concerns. With its DoDIN APL and NIST credentials, as well as proprietary technology in its toolkit, Actelis is in a position to get such initiatives rolling.

"At Actelis Networks, we recognize that robust security requires more than just strong encryption. Our Triple Shield approach integrates end-to-end data encryption, data fragmentation, and scrambling to create a multi-layered defense system. This ensures that even if one layer is compromised, the data remains protected through additional layers of security," says Tuvia Barlev, Chairman and CEO of Actelis. "By combining these techniques, we make it exceptionally difficult for malicious actors to access and exploit sensitive information, maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of our clients' critical infrastructure," he added.

What’s Next for IoT-Driven Critical Infrastructure?

While security is crucial for networks that underlie critical infrastructure, enabling uninterrupted connectivity between IoT devices is another nontrivial challenge. This is especially true of geographically scattered environments that combine fiber, coax, and legacy copper wiring.

The silver lining is that such heterogeneous cabling architectures can be glued together to deliver fiber-grade connectivity without the need to build new high-cost networks from scratch. An illustration of this tactic is Actelis’ hybrid-fiber technology harnessing high-performance managed Ethernet access switches and extenders to make the most of existing network infrastructures and provide gigabit speeds via virtually any wireline media. Actelis’ hybrid-fiber networking concept includes sections of fiber (for the easy-to-reach-with-fiber locations) and copper/coax that can be upgraded with Actelis’ technology to run fiber-grade communication. The company does both and provides management, security, and end-to-end integration for such entire networks, including fiber parts. This is important, as it represents a significant part of the market, selling both fiber and non-fiber networking.

Barlev highlights that "The beauty of Actelis’ hybrid-fiber technology lies in its ability to utilize existing network infrastructures to deliver high-speed connectivity. By integrating managed Ethernet access switches and extenders, we can achieve gigabit speeds over virtually any wireline media. This approach not only reduces deployment costs and time but also ensures that our clients can quickly and effectively modernize their networks without the need for extensive new construction."

Connectivity is the major cost and time component in any such IoT modernization project. Actelis' ability to provide power remotely to sensors and cameras over copper/coax is a major cost and time-saving component as well.

As the IoT element becomes instrumental in modernizing critical infrastructure across multiple industries, innovative network design principles come to the fore. The key challenge here is to avoid a tradeoff between deployment speed, ease of maintenance, and security. A safe world without serious technology-borne societal repercussions seems to be a matter of striking that balance for the long haul.

Follow David Balaban on LinkedIn. 

Check out David Balaban's website.

The post The Interplay Of IoT And Critical Infrastructure Security appeared first on Actelis Networks.

The Governers Highway Safety Association (GHSA), in conjunction with State Farm, has released a new report about the efficiency of automated enforcement (AE) in increasing safety on roadways. You can read the report at this link. The article states that traffic fatalities in the United States have increased 30% over the past decade. GHSA believes the expanded use of automated enforcement is essential to reversing the tragic increase in deaths and injuries on the nation’s roadways. One of the key reasons the article cites for this surge in fatalities and injuries is lack of adequate infrastructure. We will discuss how connectivity at the intersection plays a big part in infrastructure deployment and share how it can be a project barrier.

What are Automated Enforcement Tools for Roadways?

Automated enforcement tools for roadways are red-light safety cameras, automated speed safety cameras, and school bus stop-arm cameras. They are all “connected devices” that capture and share data digitally with a traffic operations center. For these devices to work properly, they need to have reliable and fast connectivity. There are two main connectivity options for intersections and along highways - wireline (fiber or twisted pair copper) or wireless.

Wireline connectivity is ideal for traffic intersection and highways for several reasons. These include:

• Coverage (direct line of sight is not required)
• Reliability (wireline communication has little-to no interference and ultra-low latency in any weather)
• Speed (wireline communication can transmit Gigabit connectivity at faster speeds than wireless)

Cost, power, and security are also considerations when choosing a connectivity medium. Wireline communications does not require cellular fees and you can power your devices over your existing wiring, which is not possible with wireless technology. Also, a wired network is contained while a wireless network is susceptible to jamming and hacking.

Why Connectivity (or Lack Thereof) Becomes a Barrier to Automated Enforcement

The expansion of automated enforcement devices can be hindered if agencies do not realize that they can utilize their existing wiring to get the fast and reliable connectivity they need. Many agencies believe that they need to wait until fiber is deployed at their intersections, which creates project delays. Additionally, cost can be a huge factor with fiber deployment as it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, you do not need fiber to achieve fiber-grade connectivity!

With the Actelis solution, agencies can get the instant and secure, fiber-quality connectivity they need to transport the data produced by traffic cameras. For instance, the Actelis' MetaLight 684D Layer 2 Ethernet Switch can be installed in a traffic cabinet and connected to the existing twisted pair copper in about an hour. This provides you with immediate connectivity as well as the option to power the cameras via Power over Ethernet. Since the ML684D is a hybrid-fiber device, it can also transport the data if fiber is deployed in the future.

Let's Make Our Roadways Safer!

Is lack of fiber-quality connectivity holding back your automated enforcement deployment? If so, request a presentation from one of our experienced ITS team members. Together, we can accelerate the deployment of the tools needed to manage traffic while ensuring the safety of our roadways.

The post Connectivity – The Backbone of Safer Roadways appeared first on Actelis Networks.

By Tom Starr and Mark Fishburn
Featured in Nov/Dec 2022 issue of ISE Magazine. www.isemag.com  Reprinted with permission

 

Key article points

Learn how services like MGfast, G.fast, G.hn, and MoCA can help deliver fiber speeds to the distributed workforce, multi-tenant businesses, and MDUs.

• Phase Two Fiber Transformation: New available technologies and unprecedented federal mandates and funding finally provide a viable and reliable means to make broadband for all a distinct reality.
• Phase One Fiber rollout reached 59 million Fiber-Passed homes out of the estimated total of 132 million households. Yet only 20% of US households are actually connected to fiber services.
  –>  Service providers lacked reliable options to affordably reach underserved locations and communities.
• Phase Two Fiber rollout, based on hybrid services can connect up to 75% of households.
  –>  Connects 35 million new gigabit households and yields provider revenues in the order of $25 billion per year.
  –>  Delivers upgrades to an additional 25-40 million households.
• Based on new ITU standards passed in 2022, Phase Two hybrid fiber-copper gigabit services deliver broadband at new higher speed FCC requirements, quickly and affordably for the first time. 

The imperative to reach and empower broadband for gigabit services is well underway but its impact is just beginning. Most easily reached areas were covered by Phase One of fiber rollout. Up to now, the rollout picked the low hanging fiber fruit to access a small and often privileged minority of homes in conveniently placed locations. What remains now are areas where building fiber-only access is difficult to financially justify.

What has been missing is the ability to extend gigabit capabilities to a new stratum of customers that cannot be affordably reached with this fiber- only strategy. This has been an historical problem with providers struggling to recover the cost of fiber installations. In the past, they have lacked decent alternatives that are too costly and have lengthy install timelines.

Phase Two is based on a generation of hybrid- fiber solutions that can reach millions more end-users—making high-speed broadband affordable for users while avoiding daunting provider installation costs and lengthy delays of new construction. Phase Two combines fiber and new copper technologies to deliver gigabit class services.

This second phase of fiber transformation can enable new economic growth by connecting those who are not currently served in the distributed workforce, multi-tenant businesses, multi-dwelling buildings, and homes. It can also pave the way to upgrade existing broadband connectivity in line with new higher speed FCC broadband requirements. Finally, it can help fulfill the U.S. government’s funding intentions to reach underserved communities.

This article reviews the latest technologies that can deliver hybrid gigabit services with significant cost savings to a much-extended range of customers. It concludes by summarizing the connectivity and commercial impact of Phase Two

If This Is Phase Two Fiber, What Was Phase One?

The U.S. Census Bureau1 estimates there will be growth to 132 million households by 2022 as shown in Figure 1. According to the well-covered study2 published in 2022 by the Fiber Broadband Association, fiber has reached about 43% of these (60.5 million) with only 24.3 million actually directly connected to the Internet via fiber. The question is why and what can be done?

Providers have done a great job of deploying fiber to the neighborhood, a.k.a. “homes passed” but not into actual “homes served”. Realistically, the policy of taking fiber-to-the-home is too expensive.

Phase One led with the assumption that fiber-only was the approach providers should take. Phase Two dispels that fallacy. What’s new in Phase Two are the latest copper gigabit standards and secured communication technologies highlighted in Figure 1.

The notion that only fiber can support modern, gigabit service is not valid. Options for transmission over the short copper wires to the home include: MGfast, G.fast, G.hn, and MoCA.

Technology Options for Fiber Transformation Phase Two

Fiber to the Extension Point (FTTep)

In many places, building fiber cable is very expensive, especially in the last segment. In these situations, using existing coax or phone wiring to reach the last few hundred feet is a much more practical and cost-effective approach. Broadband Forum TR-419 describes Fiber-to-the-Extension- Point (FTTep) as a variety of technologies that can carry gigabit service over existing wires to each home at a cost far less than Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH). (See Figure 2.)

                          Figure 2

In these cases, the network Distribution Point Unit (DPU) multiplexer is usually located near customer homes. It uses fiber backhaul to the exchange, and copper-transmission technologies such as G.fast to carry gigabit service the last few hundred feet to homes. However, if fiber backhaul from the DPU to the exchange is not feasible, the DPU backhaul can be achieved using G.fast technology over existing telephone wires.

ITU-T standard G.9702 (G.fastback) was approved in 2022, specifying DPU backhaul by bonding multiple G.fast lines, typically up to 16 lines and allowing backhaul speeds to 10 gigabits and beyond. Thus, the existing telephone wires can be utilized on both the network-side and customer-side of the DPU. Furthermore, the backhaul reach can be extended to nearly a mile by installing line-powered, mid-span amplifiers. This extends the FTTep concept of using fiber where it makes sense and use the existing copper wires to reach where fiber cannot, including power over copper when none is available. (See Figure 3.)

                                         Figure 3

MGfast

ITU-T standard G.9701 for G.fast specifies transmission up to 2 Gb/s over telephone wires, coax, and Ethernet cables up to 1,500 feet. Dynamic Time Assignment enables G.fast lines to automatically reallocate the transmission capacity between the downstream and upstream directions in response to the customer’s traffic to support gigabit data rates in either direction.

ITU-T Standards G.9710, G.9711 and G.997.3 specify MGfast, the newest copper wire transmission technology. Using full-duplex transmission up to 424 MHz, MGfast can achieve an aggregate bit rate up to 10 Gb/s on coax and CAT 5e/6 wire. On traditional telephone wires, MGfast can exceed the maximum bit rate of what is already achieved by today’s G.fast technology (2 Gb/s). Like G.fast, MGfast can operate on wires up to 1,500 feet.

G.hn

ITU-T standards G.9960 and G.9961 for G.hn specify transmission up to 10 Gbps over coax (using a bandwidth of 2 GHz), and up to 3 Gbps on telephone and Ethernet cables (using a bandwidth up to 400 MHz). G.hn can operate over wires up to 1,500 feet. What’s new is that G.hn may now be used for access from the DPU to the home, especially with the new “Vector Boost” technique that enables G.hn to operate in multipair telephone cables by avoiding crosstalk between the wires. As with MGfast and G.fast, G.hn can carry the gigabit service over wires within the premises as well as to the home.

MoCA

MoCA Access 2.5 provides 2.5 Gbps downstream, 2.0 Gbps upstream over coax wires, supporting point-to-point and point-to-multipoint over a distance up to 500 feet.

FTTH

The new ITU-T G.9804 50G-PON will soon provide up to 50×50 Gbps FTTH. The fiber PON capacity may be shared by up to 32 customers, to provide service speeds from 300 Mbps to 5 Gbps. FTTH has been the default way to connect homes and offices to the Internet at gigabit speed.

ITU-T standard G.984x specifying 2.5×1.25 Gbps GPON has been widely deployed, and now G.9807.1 XGS-PON is an increasingly popular way to provide 10×10 Gbps FTTH

Phase Two: Affordable Connections for Millions More Households

• From the market segmentation shown in Figure 1, hybrid gigabit services have the potential
  to connect 35 million new gigabit households yielding provider revenues in the order of $25 billion per year. Figure 2 shows that Phase Two can greatly help speed installation with accompanying reduced costs.

• These offerings also incent providers to upgrade existing broadband services to gigabit performance using new hybrid fiber for their current customers. Figure 2 also shows that using these copper technologies could enable an additional 25-40 million households in network upgrades.

• These solutions could help providers deliver on the commitments they must make to receive portions of the $65 billion from various U.S. federal grants. These monies are intended to reach the majority of the 17 million underserved subscribers in target communities and there will be significant oversight across the life cycle of this program. Phase Two will enable far more households to be connected for the same funding in these areas.

“Phase Two is based on a generation of hybrid-fiber solutions that can reach millions more homes making high-speed broadband affordable for users without the daunting provider installation costs and lengthy delays of new construction. Phase Two combines fiber and new copper technologies to deliver gigabit class services.”

These three areas of growth will take time, of course. In addition, not every remote area providers aim to serve may be reachable via terrestrial means. However, Phase Two is a big step toward enabling lower cost connectivity, economic business, and provider opportunities.

Thankfully, products and services are available today to capitalize on this opportunity. Several vendors provide equipment supporting Phase Two hybrid fiber access. One example is the Actelis hybrid fiber equipment that was featured in the winners of the recent IEEE ComSoc award3 for products to help end the digital divide. For full details on the Actelis range of hybrid fiber products, visit www.actelis.com.

This year has been a transformative year in thinking about how billions of dollars in government funding can be well spent. Perhaps over the next few years, this thinking will translate into fruitful actions that help the “digital divide” become a distant memory. One that exists only in the history books.

 

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1. U.S. Census Bureau: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/ HCN010217
2. Fiber Broadband Association: https://www.fiberbroadband.org/blog/fiber- broadband-enters-largest-investment-cycle-ever
3. IEEE ComSoc Award: https://actelis.com/actelis-to-win-1st-place-for-na-in-ieee- comsoc-internet-for-all-competition/

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Tom Starr is a member of the Actelis advisory board. He has more than 47 years of experience in telecommunications. For more information, email tstarr@ieee.org and visit www.actelis.com. Also, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-starr-84837013/.

Mark Fishburn is a provider of strategic marketing services and an Actelis advisor. His experience in Software, Networking and Security spans five decades. For more information, email mark@marketword.com and learn more by visiting https://marketword.com/. Also, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ markfishburn/.

Actelis Showcases New Last Mile Hybrid-Fiber Solutions
Extending Gigabit Speeds For MDUs

Actelis has announced the introduction of next generation last mile broadband solutions (GL800 and GL900) designed to enable rapid deployment of cyber-safe, gigabit connectivity to locations where fiber installation is difficult and costly. The newly introduced solutions support a variety of applications including residential and commercial broadband, MDUs/MTUs, hotels/motels, and more.

The post Phase Two of Fiber Transformation <br> Starts Now </br> appeared first on Actelis Networks.

By Tom Starr

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) has become so popular that many policy makers, regulators, and service providers believe that FTTH is the only way to provide reliable gigabit Internet access. Broadband policy relying solely on FTTH is prolonging the digital divide, unnecessarily denying ultra-fast Internet service to areas that can be effectively served by the FTTep architecture and technologies specified in the Broadband Forum report TR-419 to economically provide gigabit Internet service by overcoming the barriers to FTTH.

The post Five FTTH Myths appeared first on Actelis Networks.

Innovations in Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS), IoT, and smart applications are challenging existing infrastructure. This article will discuss these challenges and their potential solutions. As rapid urbanization occurs, transportation authorities seek solutions to implement tomorrow’s mobility and connectivity technologies—yesterday. However, significant challenges face the ITS and city networks supporting smart, IoT devices, applications, and the ensuing data to be shared and analyzed: time, cost, workforce, reliability, need for high-bandwidth, cybersecurity, and power. Fortunately, smart hybrid wireline and wireless solutions equip cities to effectively address these needs and bridge breakthroughs needed in ITS with a mix of fiber, existing copper and wireless networks.

The post A Better Quality of Life with ITS, IoT, Smart Applications Driven by Hybrid Fiber-Copper appeared first on Actelis Networks.

The post A new approach to ITS infrastructure migration appeared first on Actelis Networks.

Washington DC, the US capital, continues to face massive challenges in the management of its traffic and transportation. The 70 square mile (180km2) city includes 1,500 miles (2,400km) of public roads, more than 7,000 intersections, 1,600 traffic signals and hundreds of CCTV cameras.
The DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) manages and maintains transportation infrastructure in the DC area. Its responsibility is to ensure that people, goods and information move efficiently and safely, with minimal adverse impact on residents and the environment. 

The post Washington DC upgrades transportation network appeared first on Actelis Networks.

The post “Optimized bandwidth for advanced ITS applications” – <br>Traffic Technology International Magazine appeared first on Actelis Networks.

The post “How carriers can accelerate growth and profitability with EFM over copper” – Capacity Magazine appeared first on Actelis Networks.